Title: Skype Chat
Author: tika12001
Rating: T
Summary: A companion piece to S5E6. When their Skype session accidentally remains open, Jane hears a conversation that she doesn't quite believe. Kind of based off a Tumblr prompt.
Author's note: I don't know. *offers fic* *runs away* (also I wasn't sure if Karla's name was spelt with a K or a C, so I went with K, cause K is awesome [My name is Katie]). Also, I know nothing about Skype. Don't judge me.
R&IR&IR&I
Jane was bored.
In fact, she would go so far as to say she was unbelievably bored.
Sighing in frustration, she checked the clock for the umpteenth time, only to see that the hands had barely moved since the last time she checked and vaguely, she wondered if it was too late to Skype Maura. Usually Saturday night was their night, after all... they watched movies, Maura put out healthy food that Jane resolutely ignored (after about half an hour, Maura generally ignored it too, stealing handfuls of Jane's chips when she thought Jane wasn't looking), and they just lazed around on the couch. Their choices of what to watch generally alternated between documentaries, action movies, rom coms (Maura's not-so-secret obsession) or sport. It was fun. It was relaxing. It was enjoyable.
And it wasn't happening tonight. Because Maura had to go to a Medical Examiner's convention.
Jane groaned, throwing her head back and staring at the ceiling. Was it too late to Skype? It was... 11:30pm. Oh, no, wait, 11:31. Yippee. And... yes, probably too late. Maura was most likely asleep now, dreams of autopsies and stomach contents running around in her head. But despite herself, Jane sat forward and opened up her laptop, glancing around the room as she waited for it to wake from 'sleep' mode. When her eyes fell on the tablet dispenser that was still sitting on her bench, a fond grin lit up her face. Maura and her vitamins... "Adorable little weirdo..." Jane muttered, standing up and flicking open 'Saturday' compartment to ensure that she had in fact taken her vitamins for that day. She didn't want to think about Maura's reaction were Jane to forget... the guilt trip would be horrible. The little compartment was empty though, so Jane moved back to the couch, looking at the screen of her laptop.
"Oh, did I..." she mumbled, glancing at the Skype window that was still displayed. "Must have forgotten." She touched her finger to the pad, moving the mouse to the exit button when...
*crash, bang, thump*
Jane's eyes widened and her gaze darted back to the black window. "What the...?" she muttered, tilting the laptop slightly so she could see more clearly and she squinted at the darkened room that was barely visible on her screen. "Maura?" she called out tentatively. There was no response, but Jane had suspected there might not be... Maura had obviously also forgotten to shut down the call during their last chat. Unsurprising really, Jane mused, considering the craziness that had been going on when she called.
"Come on, Karla, it's time to go..." Jane jumped as Maura's muffled voice came through the speakers, and watched as the side of the screen lit up, illuminating just enough of the room for Jane to see that Maura's laptop was obviously partially facing the wall. She drummed her fingers on her knee as she decided what to do. She could end the call herself of course... but then she'd miss out on hearing Maura conversing with the drunken Karla, and... well, Maura was awfully funny and slightly adorable when she got flustered. Ignoring the internal voice that lectured her about invasion of privacy, she decided to wait until Karla left before enlightening Maura as to her presence, and, pulling the laptop onto her lap, sat back on the couch to wait. "Karla... Karla, what are you doing?"
"I like your bed. You have a good bed."
Maura's voice sounded frustrated even as she replied politely. "Thank you, yes, I do find it satisfactory. I'm sure your bed is quite adequate as well though, which is why..."
"Your bed is here though." Jane heard a muffled thump, which she was almost sure was the intoxicated Karla thumping the mattress decisively. Jane rolled her eyes.
"Come on Maura, tell her where to stick it..." she breathed quietly.
"I... well, yes. It is. But, Karla, this is my bed. I need to be able to sleep in it. So... can you please?"
"I think I want to stay right here. You can join me if you like..." Jane frowned. Was that a flirtatious tone? She squinted at the screen again, cursing the fact that she couldn't see what was going on.
"I... no. Thank you Karla, but you need to get back to your room. Though maybe..." Jane heard Maura sigh heavily, "maybe someone should stay with you tonight... in case you regurgitate and asphyxiate upon it..."
"Really Maura? Really?" Jane muttered, shaking her head.
"I can stay!" There was a noise of loud celebration and Jane almost smiled even as she rolled her eyes yet again, imagining Maura's arms waving frantically as she attempted to say no without potentially offending the drunken Karla.
"Maura, you are just too nice for your own good," Jane said quietly, heading to the kitchen to grab a bottle of water. When she returned, Karla was obviously still celebrating and Maura was getting increasingly desperate.
"Jane, where are you when I need you?" she muttered in a voice so low that Jane had to strain to hear, but the sound of her name was enough to capture her attention
It also seemed to be enough to capture Karla's attention as the loud whooping suddenly stopped. "Who's Jane?"
There was a brief pause. Jane imagined Maura opening and shutting her mouth a few times, her always demonstrative hands twitching slightly at her sides. "I... she's my... my best friend. We work together. But she's my best... my best friend."
A few muffled sounds of bed springs squeaking. Jane wondered what was going on. "Your... your best *hiccup* friend?"
Jane narrowed her eyes. Why did it suddenly sound as though Karla was holding an interrogation? A slightly slurred interrogation to be sure, but...
"I... yes."
"Oh my God!" Karla squealed with a kind of definite clarity that was only permitted to the very young or the very drunk. "You liiiiike her! Do you like her?" Jane rolled her eyes and took another sip of water.
"She's my best friend. Of course I like her."
There was a loud giggle. "That's not what I mean! I mean..." A pause was followed by a very wet sounding burp. Jane winced. "Whoa, that didn't taste so good."
Maura's voice was instantly concerned. "Do you need to go to the bathroom?"
"No!" Karla squealed. "I wanna talk to yoooou. I like yooou."
"Okay..." Maura said slowly, and then, haltingly, "but I really think it's time to go back to your room now..."
"No." Karla sounded decisive. "I wanna talk about Jan."
"Jane."
"I... yes. Jane."
"...I... um. Okay." Maura sounded very hesitant, and Karla instantly put her sing-song voice back on.
"Do you looooove her? Do you want to be her loooover?"
"I... Karla, let's get you back to your room..."
"Answer first! AnswER answER answER..." By the sounds of things, Karla had obviously found some to turn into her own personal drum and was now using it to accentuate her chanting.
"I... No. No, she's just... my friend. Just my friend."
A pause, and Jane looked at the laptop, wondering what was going on. She hoped Maura would be able to get rid of Karla soon... while this was entertaining, Jane was also feeling awkward for Maura's sake.
"You don't love her?" Karla asked, sounding disappointed, but then she hollered. "Whoa, d'you usually get like... big red blotches on your...wow. Boobs... nice boobs... wait, are those hives?" Jane rolled her eyes. Seriously. Did everyone have to hit on Maura? Suddenly, it hit her though... hives? She sat up, gripping the laptop tightly.
"I... yes. They are hives."
A pause in which Karla obviously poked Maura's chest, because the next thing Maura said was...
"Oh, please don't touch... they're itchy..."
"Why do you... d'you have... them?"
A pause. Jane turned her ear towards the laptop, listening intently. When the silence lasted more than a few seconds, she silently panicked. What if she'd been inexplicably rendered deaf suddenly and without warning? How would she hear Maura's answer then? But finally, Maura replied. "I ate Brazil nuts."
"Oh." Karla seemed disappointed by the response, but it seemed for the best as, judging by the sounds of it, Maura was finally able to coax her out the door. Jane lifted the bottle of water to her mouth shakily as she waited for Maura's return.
She felt like her brain was ticking over at a million miles an hour.
Maura said that she didn't want to be Jane's lover; that she didn't love Jane. And then she got hives. Jane didn't know of any actual allergies Maura had, besides the fabricated Brazil nuts one, so her only possible conclusion was... Maura had lied.
But why would she lie?
It didn't seem likely that Maura would actually want to sleep with Jane. But then... the hives.
But Maura... she would talk to Jane about something like that... wouldn't she?
Unless... Jane shook her head. Maybe she had only just figured it out. Maybe she worried that Jane would have a bad reaction.
And that leads to the question... what would my reaction be?
Jane stood up and began pacing, staring at her laptop every now and then.
She loved Maura, that was for sure. She drove Jane to the brink of insanity at times, but Jane still thought she was adorable and rarely got angry with her (getting angry was an all too frequent occurrence with anyone else). She fit in well with Jane's family, Jane loved spending time with her, and Maura would never, ever try to change Jane into being who she wanted her to be... Jane sighed. Maybe I... maybe she... The sound of a door closing snapped her out of her thoughts. She listened as Maura moved into the room, and could visualize her stretching out her neck, reaching her arms high in an attempt to work out muscle kinks before going to bed. Maura usually liked doing at least 15 minutes of yoga before bed, Jane knew, but perhaps she felt a little uncomfortable doing it in such a strange environment. Jane smiled, finally settling herself back on the couch, and her gaze focused on the corner of the screen, at an object she hadn't seen before... a shot glass.
"Why did you even have a party?" she blurted out, then winced at the shocked squeal that immediately sounded. "Sorry!"
"Jane?"
"Yeah, I'm here. Well, not there here, I'm..." Jane floundered, finally calling out, "Laptop!"
Jane watched as her view was suddenly changed, dizzily whirling around to a scene with a backdrop of an ugly room and the centrepiece of a beautiful woman. "Oh. I thought you had maybe come here to rescue me."
"Yeah... no such luck."
"More's the pity."
"You seemed to handle Karla pretty well on your own anyway."
"I... oh. Yes, she was rather intoxicated. I..." Maura paused and flushed, looking down. "How much did you hear?"
Jane shrugged. "A fair bit. 5-10 minutes maybe."
Maura bit her lip. "She was very determined. Not... altogether uncommon... for individuals that are under the influence of alcohol or recreational drugs... but I've had very little in the way of previous experience with... that." She stopped awkwardly, seemingly at a loss as to what to say next.
"Hey, I know what that's like. First time Tommy got drunk... whew!" Jane shook her head. "Very interesting. Had lots of questions... lots of stories to tell me..." she shuddered overdramatically, watching as Maura smiled, and then, despite herself, Jane felt her gaze drifting down to the red hives on Maura's chest. "Did, uh... did you remember to bring your Benadryl?"
"I... yes," Maura replied, then stopped, head down. Jane couldn't see what she was doing but she was betting that she was picking at the edge of her shirt... it was what she always did when she got nervous. "I... uh..." she finally said, looking at Jane out of the corner of her eye with an embarrassed smile turned grimace, "I ate Brazil nuts."
"Of course," Jane nodded, and Maura finally looked at Jane properly, a small smile curving up the sides of her mouth. Jane found herself smiling back, and the two sat in silence for a few moments, staring at each other, until there was a soft chime from inside the room. Maura turned to look at the clock.
"It's midnight!"
"Yep." Jane took another sip from her bottle, still watching Maura. She didn't look as 'made up' as she usually did... her makeup was almost completely gone – courtesy of a long day and a party-filled night – her hair was wild, and she looked tired. But Jane still thought she looked amazing. Well, she thought suddenly, I guess that answers the question as to how I feel about her. "I missed you," she finally admitted quietly, and Maura smiled.
"Next time, you should come with me!"
"Only if we can turn your room into a..." Jane paused as she recalled the exact wording, "a 'hospitality suite with an open bar'... again."
Maura laughed. "No. No, that is not happening. Ever again."
"What a pity." Jane scratched her head, then asked again, "So... why did you do it in the first place?"
Maura sighed. "I wanted... I guess I wanted to..." she shrugged, "fit in?"
"Is that a statement or a question?"
Maura's shoulders drooped and she suddenly looked more exhausted than before. "I don't know."
"Maura..." Jane shook her head. "You... you're an amazing, quirky, intelligent woman."
"Who doesn't know how to get along with other human beings," Maura finished, her lower lip pouting out ever so slightly as she looked down at her lap.
"No..." Jane replied, then sighed. "What I was gonna say is... why try to fit in... when you're born to stand out?"
There was silence, then a suspicious sounding sniffle.
"Maura?"
"I miss you too, Jane."
Jane smiled, her hands instinctively reaching out, but when they met hard, unyielding plastic, she frowned slightly. She lowered them again and let out a disgruntled sigh that was so loud, she almost missed Maura's quiet voice.
"I'm sorry. I just... I didn't... know."
"You didn't know what?"
"I didn't..." Maura took a deep breath and glanced quickly at her webcam, and just as quickly looked away again, "know." Jane opened her mouth but before she could say anything, Maura was talking rapidly, "Human emotion is such a complex thing, you know. Scientists and theorists have been studying it for years upon years, with no real definitive conclusions as to why we feel the things we do. Yes, there are chemical responses to various stimuli and..."
"Maura," Jane interrupted patiently, "what didn't you know?"
Maura didn't respond for such a long time that Jane began to think she wasn't going to, but finally, she spoke. "I didn't... know..." she breathed slowly and steadily for several beats, "that I was in love with you."
A breath of air escaped Jane's lungs in a slow whoosh, and she found herself staring down at her hands, feeling like she was drowning in the silence that followed.
"I'm... I'm sorry. I... I know it may not be what you want to hear..."
"I've turned down dates," Jane interrupted abruptly, her mouth operating without giving her any prior warning, "because I only wanted to spend time with you. I've told you things that I've never told anyone else and..." she shook her head, "I think you're the most beautiful person in the world."
"Jane?" Maura's voice sounded questioning and almost hopeful, but Jane still didn't look up at the screen.
"You put up with my family, you put up with me... you never try to change me, even though I have changed since knowing you... I've become better."
"Jane..."
"Why'd you have to go away?" Jane finally asked after a long period of quiet contemplation, her gaze meeting Maura's through the Skype window, her voice raspy with barely suppressed emotion. "Why'd you have to have a party? Why did Karla have to be there? Why'd I... why did I have to fall in love too?"
There was a long pause. "Jane?" Maura asked, her voice cracking on the single syllable.
"Why aren't you here?" Jane continued quietly, "When all I want to do is kiss you?"
After an indeterminate amount of time, Maura finally spoke. "Did we really just tell each other that we loved each other... over Skype?" she asked, her voice tremulous and shaky.
"Yeah..." Jane said, then laughed slightly. "Sorry. I probably destroyed your girlish dreams of romance."
"No..." Maura whispered, with a brief shake of her head. "No. You just outdid them all."
"I love you, Maura."
"I love you more."
END.
Yes, you know what, this sucks. And it ends... weirdly. I DON'T EVEN CARE. I just wanted to post something, ANYTHING, because my brain hates me and tells me everything I write at the moment is pure crap. And I've been feeling like shit lately. But yaaay holidays at the moment! Even though I have to go to a staff meeting tomorrow night... grr. Anyway. Review. Or not. But I will love you extra if you do. :-D Love to all!